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Personal data is ubiquitous in the digital world, can be highly valuable in aggregate, and can lead to unintended intrusions for the data creator. However, individuals' expressions of concern about exposure of their personal information are generally not matched by their behavioural caution. One reason for this mismatch could be the varied and intangible value of personal data. We present three studies investigating the potential association between personal data value and privacy behaviour, assessing both individual and cross-cultural differences in personal data valuation, comparing collectivist and individualistic cultures. Study 1a, using a representative UK sample, found no relationship between personal data value and privacy behaviour. However, Study 1b found Indian (collectivist) participants' privacy behaviour was sensitive to personal data value, unlike US (individualist) participants. Study 2 showed that in a UK sample, privacy behaviour was sensitive to personal data value but only for individuals who think of themselves as more similar to others (i.e., self-construe as similar, rather than different). We suggest those who prioritise group memberships are more sensitive to unintentional disclosure harm and therefore behave in accordance with personal data valuations-which informs the privacy concern-behaviour relationship. Our findings can suggest approaches to encourage privacy behaviours.

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The belief that one is in a worse situation than similar others (Relative Deprivation) has been associated with involvement in a range of maladaptive escape behaviors, including excessive risk taking. Yet not everyone scoring high on measures of relative deprivation makes maladaptive choices. We hypothesized that hope may ameliorate the negative effects of relative deprivation. In two laboratory-based experiments using a novel risk-taking task (N = 101) we show that hope reduces risk-taking behavior in relatively deprived participants. A third study (N = 122) extended the moderating effect of hope on relative deprivation to real-world risk behavior; increased hope was associated with decreased likelihood of loss of control of one's gambling behavior in relatively deprived individuals. Nurturing hope in relatively deprived populations may protect them against maladaptive behaviors with potential applications for harm reduction.

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Increasing the perception of legal risk via publicized litigation and lobbying for copyright law enforcement has had limited success in reducing unlawful content sharing by the public. We consider the extent to which engaging in file sharing online is motivated by the perceived benefits of this activity as opposed to perceived legal risks. Moreover, we explore moderators of the relationship between perceived risk and perceived benefits; namely, trust in industry and legal regulators, and perceived online anonymity. We examine these questions via a large two-part survey of consumers of music (n = 658) and eBooks (n = 737). We find that perceptions of benefit, but not of legal risk, predict stated file-sharing behavior. An affect heuristic is employed: as perceived benefit increases, perceived risk falls. This relationship is increased under high regulator and industry trust (which actually increases perceived risk in this study) and low anonymity (which also increases perceived risk). We propose that, given the limited impact of perceived legal risk upon unlawful downloading, it would be better for the media industries to target enhancing the perceived benefit and availability of lawful alternatives.

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We employ a scoping review methodology to consider and assess the existing evidence on the determinants of unlawful file sharing (UFS) transparently and systematically. Based on the evidence, we build a simple conceptual framework to model the psychological decision to engage in UFS, purchase legally or do nothing. We identify social, moral, experiential, technical, legal and financial utility sources of the decision to purchase or to file share. They interact in complex ways. We consider the strength of evidence within these areas and note patterns of results. There is good evidence for influences on UFS within each of the identified determinants, particularly for self-reported measures, with more behavioral research needed. There are also indications that the reasons for UFS differ across media; more studies exploring media other than music are required.

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BACKGROUND: It has been suggested that transfusion information from scientific sources (vs. popular sources) is seen as more trustworthy and that interventions should consider using scientific styles. Before such suggestions can be implemented, it is necessary to know if this science source-trust link is observed across different sociodemographic groups and psychological characteristics. A large-scale field-based study examining the importance of sociodemographics and psychological characteristics on the source-trust link was conducted. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: A large field-based experiment (the Euro Blood Substitutes Project) was conducted on four different samples (the general public, blood donors, patients, and health experts) in the UK and The Netherlands (total n = 3935). Questions examined levels of trust about sources of transfusion medicine, various aspects of knowledge, and demographic data. RESULTS: People differentiated between scientific and popular sources, with scientific sources perceived as more trustworthy. General trust in transfusion medicine was higher for those who believe that they or scientists were knowledgeable about transfusion medicine or genetic modification (GM). This suggests that people do not differentiate in their subjective knowledge between GM and transfusion medicine. This science trust-source relationship was moderated by a variety of demographic (e.g., younger people were more likely to trust scientific sources) and psychological (e.g., those who rate science as knowledgeable were more trusting of scientific sources) factors. CONCLUSION: The trust-source link is not stable and communications should be targeted to the specific population samples for which they will be most effective; scientifically styled information will be particularly effective for communicating information within certain populations.

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A pilot study was undertaken in the UK in February 2005 to identify the perceptions of risk, effectiveness and ethicality of different hypothetical transfusion options, including blood substitutes derived from different sources, among young adults. Forty-nine men and 92 women completed the questionnaire, aging between 18 and 25 years old (mean +/- standard deviation = 19.7 +/- 1.2 years). Twenty-three percent of respondents had donated blood, an average of 3.1 times. The study assessed the perceptions of donor blood versus 3 different types of potential "artificial blood" [i.e. "chemical" (synthetic), "grown from bacteria" (recombinant hemoglobin), or "based on cow blood" (bovine hemoglobin)] on three dimensions, namely risk, effectiveness, and ethicality, each scored on a 1 (least) to 7 (most) Likert-type scale. Donor blood was rated as significantly (P < 0.05) less risky, more effective and more ethical than any of the blood substitutes. The chemical-based blood substitute was rated second least risky, second most effective and second most ethical followed by bacteria grown substitute. The bovine-based blood substitute was rated as significantly riskier, least effective and least ethical. All the blood products differed significantly for perceived ethicality, with donor blood considered as most ethical and a blood substitute derived from bovine blood as least ethical. Judgments of risk correlated negatively with effectiveness (all transfusion options) and ethicality (all the blood substitutes). Overall, these results indicate that donor blood is currently preferred over blood substitutes in the UK and that judgments of risk about different hypothetical transfusion options are related to perceptions of effectiveness and ethicality.

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Congenitally blind individuals are generally less accurate at mentally manipulating objects than sighted people. However, they often score higher on tests of short- and long-term verbal memory, and it has been suggested that an enhanced propositional representation compensates for inefficiencies in analogue visuospatial representation. Here, congenitally blind, blindfolded, and sighted participants recalled descriptions of relative object locations. In contrast to previous findings, the congenitally blind participants were as accurate as the blindfolded and sighted individuals at remembering the relative locations of objects, but their memory for the verbatim structure of presented descriptions was worse. We propose that, like sighted people, the congenitally blind spontaneously construct and remember analogue representations of object locations and that the performance discrepancies of the blind arise from the process of managing and manipulating these analogue representations.

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